In the very instant that you become a Christian you are "sealed
with the Holy Spirit."

Being sealed, you
are a MARKED person. Who knows what the mark is? Perhaps the mark
says, "God's property." Perhaps it says, "God's child" or "God's soldier."

Whatever that mark might be, every angel in the universe immediately
KNOWS exactly who and what you are.

To God and His holy angels, you are a cherished loved one.

To Satan and his legions of evil angels, you are an ENEMY. Moreover, these spiritual
hosts of wickedness fully intend to engage you in a deadly serious wrestling match. You are in a battle!

In Him (Jesus) you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the
gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise (Eph 1.13)

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Eph 6.11-12)

Know your enemy

Rule One in any battle is KNOW YOUR ENEMY. Accordingly,
the goal of this essay is to teach you about Satan, the chief of all your enemies. Herein you will learn of Satan's
origin, his nature, his goals, and the tactics he will use against you. Most importantly, you will learn how to
gain the victory.

Know this for a certainty -- one of Satan's main tactics is to DENY HIS OWN EXISTENCE. Failing that, he seeks to ensure that anyone who teaches that he DOES exist is promptly
laughed out of town.

The world says, "Satan does not exist."

Cartoonists
portray Satan as a comical character with horns and a pointy tail, wearing red long-johns, and carrying a pitchfork.

Liberal preachers
with doctorate degrees smilingly assure you that Satan is no more than a myth, dreamed up by superstitious, uneducated
people.

Motion pictures and television depict Satan as just another fictional boogey-man, on a par with Godzilla and other movie
monsters that screen writers dreamed up to give audiences an entertaining scare.

Suave TV commentators and learned college professors assign labels like "religious fanatic" and "lunatic fringe element"
to anyone who admits to believing in Satan's existence.

A) Foundational Information -- A1) There are angels called kings and princes

God's angel visits Daniel

In the days of Daniel chapter 10, the prophet Daniel and the people
of Israel were held captive in Persia. They had been enslaved for many years.

Daniel prayed and fasted for three weeks, seeking God's answer as
to when the Israelites would be set free.

Finally Daniel's prayers were answered by a visit from an angelic person, whose appearance
is described by the verses alongside.

But why had God's messenger taken three weeks to respond?

I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in
linen, whose waist was girded with gold of Uphaz!

His body was like beryl

his face like the appearance of lightning

his eyes like torches of fire

his arms and feet like burnished bronze in color

and the sound of his words like the voice of a multitude. (Dan 10.5-6)

God's angel explains

God's angel immediately explains to Daniel why he had been so long
in coming. Namely, God's angel had been engaged in battle for 21 days with "the prince of the kingdom of Persia"
and "the kings of Persia."

Assisted by "Michael, one of the chief princes," God's angelic
messenger had finally been freed to come to Daniel. The chief prince Michael who aided God's messenger was an archangel
(Jude 1.9), the defender of the nation Israel (Dan 12.1).

The prince and kings of Persia who battled God's angel
were themselves ANGELS, not humans.

Humans could not even have seen God's angel as he passed through
their territory.

Moreover, mere humans cannot successfully take on an angel in direct
battle, as is clearly demonstrated by the quoted passage from 2 Kings 19.35.

Then he (God's angel) said to me (Daniel), "Do not fear, Daniel,
for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words
were heard; and I have come because of your words. But
the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days;
and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I
had been left alone there with the kings of Persia." (Dan 10.12-13)

And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians
one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses all dead.
(2 Kings 19.35)

A) Foundational Information -- A2) In Ezekiel 28.11-17, the king of Tyre is an angelic being

The anointed cherub

The passage alongside is addressed to "the king of Tyre."
This king is clearly an angelic being for the following reasons:

The study at Road Map A1 showed that there are angels who the Bible
calls princes and kings.

The king of Tyre is said to have been "perfect in your ways
from the day you were created... ," whereas all descendents of Adam and Eve are born sinners (Rom 3.23).

The king is referred to as "the anointed cherub."
A cherub is an angelic person, not a human. This is proven by many
Bible verses, including but not limited to Genesis 3.22-24, and 2 Samuel 22.11.

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me (the prophet Ezekiel) , saying,
"Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king
of Tyre, and say to him, `Thus says the Lord God:

"You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect
in beauty...

You were the
anointed cherub who covers; I established you;

you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in
the midst of fiery stones.

You were perfect
in your ways from the day you were created... ' '' (Ezek 28.11-12,
28.14-15a)

A) Foundational Information -- A3) In Ezekiel 28.11-17, the king of Tyre is Satan

The rebellious king

Road Map A2 showed that the king of Tyre is an angelic being. In our OPINION the king of Tyre is Satan. The reasons for this
opinion are as follows...

Throughout the Bible, Satan is consistently characterized as God's
premier enemy, a rebel against all that God stands for. In fact, the Hebrew word "satan" means "enemy."

Like Satan, the
king of Tyre rebelled against God.

Like Satan, the king of Tyre conducted his rebellion in God's own heaven.

Like Satan, the king of Tyre sinned and became God's enemy.

In Luke 10.18, Jesus reports that He witnessed Satan "fall like
lightning from heaven." Like Satan, Ezekiel 28.17 states that the
king of Tyre was cast down from heaven.

(God said to the king of Tyre:) "By the abundance of your trading
you became filled with violence within, and you sinned;
therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God;
and I destroyed you, O covering cherub, from the midst of the fiery stones." (Ezek 28.16)

And He (Jesus) said to them, "I saw Satan fall
like lightning from heaven." (Lk 10.18)

B) The origin and physical nature of
Satan -- B1) Satan is a created being

A rebel by choice

Unlike God, Satan has not always existed. Instead, Satan was created
by God.

However, Ezekiel 28.15 clearly states that Satan was NOT created evil.
Rather, when God created Satan, God gave him the ability to make moral choices.

As you shall see in Part Two of this essay, it was Satan's OWN choice
to rebel against God.

(Spoken to Satan as king of Tyre:) You were perfect in your ways from
the day you were created...
(Ezek 28.15a)
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts! ...Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. (Ps 148.2,
148.5)
For by Him (Jesus Christ) all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible,
whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. (Col
1.16)

B) The origin and physical nature of
Satan -- B2) Satan was created before the earth or humans existed

At the throne of God

Job 1.6 describes a scene wherein "the sons of God" and
Satan presented themselves before the Lord in heaven. Thus, it is apparent that "sons" of God" refers
to angelic beings.

Job 38.4 and 38.7 show that the sons of God were present when God
created the earth. These angels shouted for joy at the wonder of God's creative act.

Clearly, therefore, angelic
persons, including Satan, were created by God BEFORE He created the earth and humans.

Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan
also came among them. (Job 1.6)

(God said:) "Where were you when I laid the
foundations of the earth? ...and all the sons of God shouted for
joy?" (Job 38.4a, 38.7b)

B) The origin and physical nature of
Satan -- B3) Satan was created to fill up the sum of beauty and intelligence
among all God's creatures

God's pattern

"Thou sealest up the sum" -- When God created intelligent
life forms, He evidently had in mind an upper limit as to how much wisdom and beauty He would bestow on any particular
one of his creatures. In Ezekiel 28.12 this limit
is referred to as "the sum."

To a frog, God bestowed a small percentage of "the sum."
To a dog, God bestowed a higher percentage of "the sum." And so forth.

On Satan, however, God bestowed the FULL LIMIT -- "the sum"
of wisdom and beauty. Thus, Ezekiel 28.12 says that Satan "sealest up the sum, FULL of wisdom, and PERFECT
in beauty."

In other words, Satan
is the most intelligent and most beautiful creature that God ever made!

Of course, we are talking about EXTERNAL beauty here. As to Satan's
heart, you shall see in Part Two that it became quite black and totally ugly.

(God said:) "Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of
Tyrus, and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God; Thou
sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty."
(Ezek 28.12)

C) Satan's original job and domain
-- C1) Satan's original job was to serve as an anointed guardian
of God

Guardian of God

Guardianship is the main job of cherubim (plural of cherub), as is
demonstrated by Genesis 3.24, and as is illustrated by Exodus 26.18 and 25.22a. (See also Ezekiel chapters 1 and
10.)

As stated in Ezekiel 28.14, Satan is the cherub who was anointed by God to the
incredibly high honor of serving as a personal guardian to God's presence and holiness.

So He (God) drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden,
and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Gen 3.24)
(God said:) "And you shall make two cherubim of gold; of hammered work you shall make them at the two ends
of the mercy seat... And there I will meet with you, and I
will speak with you from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim...
(Exod 25.18, 25.22a; NKJV)
(God said to Satan as king of Tyre:) "You were
anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you... (Ezek 28.14a)

A side issue

Whoops! Why would the all-powerful God need guardians? The simple
answer is, God doesn't NEED anything or anyone -- guardians or otherwise. Rather, for reasons God has not seen
fit to reveal, He has CHOSEN to administer His creation in and through His creatures, angelic and human alike.

(God said:) "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God
besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor
is there any who can deliver from My hand." (Deu 32.39)

...the rain
from heaven was restrained. (Gen 8.1b)
Then He brought him outside and said, "Look now toward heaven,
and count the stars if you are able to number them...''' (Gen 15.5a)
I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do
not know, God knows -- such a one was caught up to the
third heaven. And I know such a man whether in the body or out of
the body I do not know, God knows how he was caught up into Paradise... (2 Cor 12.2-4a)

Realms of the heavenly places

The spiritual hosts of angels
reside in "the heavenly places" wherein the stars and planets
are located.

The heavenly places are governmentally organized into principalities,
powers, and so forth.

It is conceivable that angels occupy the entirety of the celestial
heavens which we call "outer space."

to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known
by the church to the principalities and powers in
the heavenly places, (Eph 3.10)
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of
the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
the heavenly places. (Eph 6.12)

A garden of minerals

Satan's original domain was Planet Earth, where he
resided in the garden of God called Eden.

This was NOT the Eden that God made for Adam and Eve.

The Eden of Adam and Eve was a garden of vegetation -- "every
tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food." (Gen 2.8-9)

On the other hand, Satan resided in an earlier version of Eden that
was a garden of minerals -- sardius, topaz, diamond, and so forth. (Ezek 28.13)

(Spoken to Satan as king of Tyre:) You were in Eden, the garden of God; every
precious stone
was your covering: the sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with
gold. (Ezek 28.13a)

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground
the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant
to the sight and good for food. (Gen 2.8-9a)

Summary of Part One

Satan is a cherub, created by God.

Satan was created "perfect all in his ways"
-- NOT evil.

Satan was created before God created the earth and
humans.

God created Satan as the most intelligent and beautiful
of all His creatures.

God anointed Satan to serve as a guardian of God's
presence and holiness.

Satan's original domain was Planet Earth, in the garden
of God known as Eden.